Love Turns A Blind Eye
by The Forgotten Poet
Summary: Love is blind to the imperfections, both physical and not, of the one held in its gaze. Wow, that's sappy.


Hitsugaya Tōshirō.

Child prodigy, youngest Taichō of the Goteijūusantai, Master of the most powerful ice-based zanpakutō, Hyōrinmaru.

He's battled Hollows way beyond the Gillian level.

Fought in battles that took many of his comrades and friends from him.

Faced Aizen in the final battle of the Winter War, head on.

Watched his childhood friend slowly withdraw into herself, after the War.

Hell, he's even endured one of his fukutaichō's shopping sprees.

But nothing terrified Hitsugaya Tōshirō more than the news of his girlfriend's accident in the Real World.

Oh, Kami-sama, it made him sick to his stomach to think an automobile accident could be so bad.

Ichigo had been almost as pale as the young captain's hair, nearly passed out, when he told Tōshirō the extent of the injuries she sustained.

There were scars, deep ones: but, honestly, Karin wouldn't care for a few scars, even on her face.

She's confident like that.

But..her left eye and right leg couldn't be saved and who knows what kind of mental repercussions that could cause.

He wanted to be by her side in the months following, helping her recover, especially after he heard from her brother.

Unfortunately, Yamamoto Sōtaichō wouldn't allow him to go, even going so far as to have Soi Fon Taichō send some of her personal army to watch him, though reluctantly.

Damn that old man!

Tōshirō felt so guilty for not being there, despite the circumstances.

Now, after three months of not being able to see her, Yamamoto Sōtaichō finally relented to some of the other captains' arguments and Tōshirō's growing restlessness.

When told that he was to be sent to the Real World (Karakura Town, specifically) to guard against some recent Hollows (that everyone knew Ichigo could take of, easily), Tōshirō thought he heard a little bit of regret and sympathy in the old man's tone.

Then wrote it off as his imagination and was practically in Karakura the very next second.

He found her easily and his heart nearly broke at what he found.

Karin was slumped on the ground, leaning against the railing where they had first met, crying: something he'd never seen her do before.

Her middle school uniform was a little rumpled, likely from her slumped posture, and Tōshirō couldn't help but to stare at the prosthetic limb attached to what was left of her leg.

He'd never seen a prosthetic before and, in all honesty, thought it looked a lot better than what he had been expecting.

Finally, after a few minutes of blank staring, Tōshirō shook himself out of his daze and wrapped his arms around her trembling form "Shh, it's alright."

Karin jerked, as those familiar strong, warm arms surrounded her.

The soccer player's head rose and turned towards Tōshirō's concerned face, her one remaining eye staring in slight disbelief "Tōshirō."

The young shinigami studied her face for a few seconds.

There were some small scars on her forehead and one long one going down the left side of her face, disappearing under the eyepatch that covered the now-vacant socket.

She looked far better than he imagined she would.

"I'm sorry, Karin," the white-haired young man started, guilt lacing through his words "I wanted to be here, I really did, but the Sōtaichō-"

A pair of soft lips cut him off, delivering a quick, chaste kiss to his own lips, before Karin buried her face in his shoulder, crying softly.

It took the young captain around five minutes to calm Karin down enough for her to tell him what was wrong.

He stroked her hair, as she was now sitting in his lap, wrapped in his haori.

Rue, a popular, promiscuous girl who looked way too much like a life-sized Barbie doll, had been after Tōshirō ever since she first laid eyes on him, despite his cold attitude towards her and that he was dating Karin.

Apparantly, she had cornered Karin at school and assumed that Tōshirō hadn't been around for a while because of her scars and absent body parts.

Therefore, she took it upon herself to "take him off Karin's hands" as, if he stayed with her, he would only be staying out of pity, which made Karin come all the way out here.

"She just had to mention how you hadn't visited over the summer," Karin mumbled into Tōshirō's chest.

Teal eyes closed, as the captain rested his cheek against her hair "I'm sorry."

"Don't," the tomboy snuggled further into his chest "I know you weren't able to come, or you would be imprisoned , then I'd never see you. Ichi-nii and Rukia-nee made sure I knew." she sighed "But the way she implied that you just didn't want to look at me-"

"Tch," Tōshirō scoffed "if it was looks that attracted me to women, Matsumoto would have the same effect on me that she does on other men." he kissed her head "You actually look much better than I thought you would, considering how your brother always had a look of horror on his face each time I saw him."

Karin blinked, looking up at him "Really?"

"Yeah."

"What did you think I was gonna look like?"

Tōshirō cleared his throat, looking away "Like one of those mutilated victims from those horror movies you like to watch."

Karin stared at the uncomfortable expression on her boyfriend's face, before she broke down laughing.

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Much as I'd like to, I don't own Bleach in any way, shape, or form...v-v


End file.
